2023: Strong Reason Given As Abaribe Withdraws From Abia PDP Guber Race Hours To Primaries

• Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe has decided to drop his ambition to become the governor of Abia state in 2023
• The Senate's minority leader who is a PDP chieftain made this resolve in a statement he signed on Wednesday, May 25
• Abaribe alleged imaginary delegates list and lack of transparency as some developments in the process that led him to pull out from the race

Abuja - Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, Senate minority leader, has pulled out from the Abia governorship race just hours before the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primaries scheduled for Wednesday, May 25.

Abaribe pointed at “imaginary delegates list and lack of transparency” as what influenced his decision to withdraw from the Abia governorship race, Vanguard reports.

Senator Abaribe also said there was no three-man delegate election anywhere in the state by PDP, alleging that the list being bandied about was cooked up by those who want to impose their candidate on the party, The Sun added.

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In a statement signed by himself, the PDP senator said his next line of action will be made public in due time.

Part of his statement reads:

“The last couple of weeks has been tortuous as we battled hard to navigate our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) away from a self-destructive path.

“The essence was to create an unfettered democratic space and a level playing field for all aspirants vying for all elective offices in the state, to participate equally in the primary elections. That was not the case and of course what we are witnessing is a shambolic process driven by a procured court injunction.

“To make matters worse, the use of only imaginary 3-man Adhoc delegates to the exclusion of the party’s statutory delegates in the primary elections to elect our candidates even when INEC the nation’s electoral umpire, has unequivocally stated that no congress held in Abia State for that purpose, has no doubt put the party and her candidates in a quagmire.

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“The implication for our party is grave and as such has put all ongoing primary exercises on quicksand."

According to him, he is known for standing firm in defence of his convictions for the right of all people to a free and fair democratic process.

Read the full statement in his Facebook post below:

To dump PDP or not? Senator Abaribe finally opens up on his plan after APC's offer

Meanwhile, Abaribe had debunked claims that he has the intention to dump the PDP.

He said dumping the PDP had never been an option for him.

Speaking through his media aide, Uchenna Awom, the lawmaker described the claim as a rumour while stating that there is no iota of truth in the reports making ground that he was leaving the PDP.

Source: Legit.ng